Electric mail-box.



F. L. SMITH @L P. oz GUDREAU.

ELEGTRG MAH. BOX. APPLIOATION Hum SEPT. 22, 1913.

Paan Bec. L 1914 Il SHEETS-SHEET l.

E. LSMITH am. o. GAUDREAU.

ELECTRIC MAIL BOX.

APPLIGATIONAPILED SEPT. 22, 1913.

1,1 l 9,3 asented Dec. l, 19M.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Cgi

'.F. L. SMTH & P. 9. GAUDREAU.

ELECTRIC MAIL BOX.

APPLIUATIOH FILED SEPT. 22, 1913,

l SHEETS-SHEET 3.

.Patente Bec.

P. L. SMITH P. 0. GAUDREAU. ELECTRIC MAIL B0X.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 22, 1913. 19,4%,.3. Patente@ Bec. 1, 1914. 41% l SHEETS-SHEBT 4. L y'nff/f/ UNITED STATES PATENT oEEioE.

FRED L. SMITH AND PETER O. GAUDREAU, OF BURLINGTON, VERMONT.

ELECTRIC MAIL-Box.

Speeication of Letterslatent.

Patented Decal, 1914;.

Application led I'ep-tember 22, 1913. Serial No. 791,184.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that we, FRED L. SMITH and PETER O. GAUDREAU, citizens of the United States, residing at Burlington, in the county 6 of Chittenden and State of Vermont, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric ,Mail-Boxes, of which the following is a s ecication, reference being had therein to t e accompanying drawings. This invention relates to a mail box and the principalobject of the invention is to provide an attachment for the mail box so that when the mail box is opened to put letters in, a bell will be rung thus indicating that a letter has been placed in the box.

Another object of the invention is to so construct the contacts that the bell will be roved mail box.

ooking at the rear of t e supporting board. Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view through.

` the mail box. Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view through the mail box. Fig. 5 is a View looking at the inner face of the door.

6 is a fragmentaryA sectional view throug the front door and a corner of the mail Bgx and shows the contacts carried by-the door and mail box. Fig. 7 is a fragmentary sec-v tional view through the upper portion of the mail box. Fig. 8 is Aa. perspective viewof. the contact strip which is secured to the front wall of the mail box. Fig. 9 ,is a sec-. tional view showing the manner -inl which the contact strip shown-in Fig. 8 is insulated from the front wall. Fig. V'10 is a frag mentary sectional View through the lower portion of the mail box.` Fig. 11 is avfragmentary sectional view showing the-manner in which the plate mounted in thebo'ttom of the mail box vis insulated from the bottom of the box. Fig. 12 is a view showin a number of mail boxes .secured to the wal in the vestibule of an apartment house. vFig.

13 is a diagrammatic view of .the .electric circuit for one of the mail boxes shown-in Fig. 12. Fig. 111 is an enlarged'view ofthe upper 'left-hand ,corner of the front 'wall shown in Fig. 13. Fig. 15 is a section take along line 15-15 in Fig. 14.

The mail box in the drawings has been shown secured to the back board .15 which is su ported by a standardI 16. This back boar may be mounted, as shown, or if de-4 sired may form a portion of the front door, or of any art of the woodwork of a house. The Aelectric bell 17 may be mou'nteddirectly upon the hack board, as shown in the drawings, or if desired the bell and switch 18 can belocated in any desired place. The mail box 19 is secured to the back boardil'and is provided. with a bottom 20 l and front wall 2l with which electric contact ,members are connected; as will be brought'out further on in the specification.

The front wall is provided with a lower opening which is closed by a hinged door 22,

the. lower opening being provided vso that mail can be taken from the box. An inlet opening is formed in the upper portion of the front wall vby cutting a tongue 23 through the front wall and moving the same upwardly, thus forming the inlet o ening 24 and also forming a 'lip which gui esthe letters .into the box and forms a' stop for the plates 25, which forms a. closure for the opening 24.-

A metal .strip 26. is secured to the front wall 21 by means ofthe small .bolts 27 -.which pass'through openingsv28 in the stri 26.

vInsulating collars 429 are carried by the olts 27 and hold thestrip 26 in spaced relation tothe vfront wall, as shownin Fig.'9'. The

strip 26 extends vertically iii 4tlie'm'ail box and has 'itsupper end portion 30- bentv in'- wardly as shown in Fig.- 6. This bent end portion '3D extends lbeneath a tongue 31 4carried by tl'i'e closure plate 25 so that .when the .closure plate is 'raisedfthe contact tongue upper'end of the contact strip -26 and-thus an electric-circuit formed. f

The lower end portion 320i the strip 26 is bent inwardly, as shown, and the end portion 331s then bent across the lower openextends fronithe door 22. Froman inspection'of Fig. 4, it will be readilyfseenthat tongue. 3ftwill engagethe lower endportion 33 of the strip .26,tlrus causingv the elec?v tric bell toring for a short Itime while-the door isbeing opened orolosed. If the door 31 will be brought into engagement with the ing in front of:the conta 'c t tongue whioh when the .door is opened or fclo's'ed, the

connectedwith the body portion of the box as shown in Fig. 4, and the second wire 3G is connected with the strip 26 and. with a contact plate 37 which is secured to the bot tom of the box by means of the bolts 3S and insulated therefrom by means of'the insulating collars 39.'

A contact pin 40 is pivotally connected with the bottom of the mail box by means of the brackets 41 and has one end positioned beneath the hooked end portion 37 of the plate 37 and its outer end portion extending through a slotin the front wall beneath the door22. A lever 42 is hinged to the bottom of the box and has its forward end portion 43 bent upwardly and provided with an opening through which the outer end of the pin 40 passes, as shown in Fig. 1. A

tongue isv struck from the lever 42 and is bent to form a hook 44 by means of which packages may be suspended beneath the mail box. lVhen a package is placed on the hook this draws the lever. downwardly against the tension of the spring 45 and movesA the pin 40 upon its pivot so that the innerend of-the pin will be brought into engagement r'with the plate 37 and thus an electric circuit for-med so that the bell will ring. This pin 40 is only held in engagement with the plate 37 for a shorttime since the inner end portion is heavier than the outer end portion, thus causing the pin to return to its normal position when released from the hooked end portion of the lever 42.

A button 46 is mounted upon the block 47 and is connected with the wires forming the electric circuit by means of the wires 4S and 49, so that when desired, the bell may be rung by means of the button 46. In the form shown in Figs.,12 and Y13, the boxes are placed in a. row in the vestibule of an apartment house and the buttons 46 are placed lbeneath the boxesO.

This mail box is put in place with the electric'bell mounted ata desired point, and with the battery 51 connected with the Wires 52 and 53. The box is now ready for use and it will be readily understood from the foregoing description thatfwhen the closure plate 25 is raised to place any mail in the box, the contact tongue 31 will be vbroughtY into engagementA with vthe end portion 30 of the strip 26, thus causing the bell. 17 to ring. i It will also be seen that if a package is suspended fromthe hook 44 that the contact pin 40 will be brought into engagementl with the plate 37 and the bell will be caused. to ring. It will also be seen that whenthe door 22 is opened to remove the mail.I that the bell `will be caused to ring and this will indicate that an unauthorized person has opened the door 22. 1f it is not desired to have 'the bell ring, the switch 18 can be opened and this will prevent the bell 1T from ringing, since it will break the circuit.

The end portion 30 of the contact strip 2G in Figs. 13, 14 and 15 is not curved across the inlet opening, as it is in the form shown in Fig. 5, but is bent away from the front wall as shown in Fig. 15 so that the tongue between the front wall to the free end of the contact strip, as clearly shown in Fig. 14. l/Vhen the closure is moved inwardly to the dotted line position shown in F ig. 15, the tongue is brought into engagement with the end portion of the strip 26, thus closing the electric circuit. The closure is thickened toward its free edge and is provided with the Vreduced lip 49 which prevents it from moving-upwardl beyond a desired amount. This form o closure is particularly intended for use in connection with the mail boxes v.which are mounted in the wall of an apartment house, as shown in Fig. 12.

Wvhat is claimed, is:

l. A mail box comprising a receptacle having its front wall provided with upper and lower openings, closures for said openings hinged to the front wall of said receptacle, contact tongues extending fromlsaid closures into said receptacle, a contact strip secured to the inner face of the front wall of said receptacle and insulated therefrom, the upper end portion of said contact strip being bent beneath the contact tongue .of said upper closure, and the lower end portion of said contact strip being bent inwardly into said receptacle and being then twisted and carried partially. across the lower opening with its free end positioned in the course of travel of the contact tongue of the lower closure, whereby the contact tongue of the lower closure will be brought into engagement with the lower end ortion of said Contact strip for al portion ot the time during the yopening vhaving its opposite end portion extending through an opening formed in the front 'wall of said receptacle, a lever pivotally connected with'said receptacle and having its iree v end portion bent upwardly to extend along the lfront wall of'said receptacle, and provided with an opening through which the upper end portion of said contact pin passes 48 extending from the closure 25 can pass when said lever is in a raised position, supporting means carried by said lever, and means for normally holding said lever in a raised position.

3. A mail box comprising a. receptacle, provided With inlet and outlet openings, cl0- sures for said openings provided with contact tongues, a contact strip insulated from the Walls of said' receptacle and having its free ends positioned in the course of travel of said Contact tongues, a Contact plate insulated from the bottom of said receptacle, a contact pin pivotally' connected with the bottom of said receptacle, and a supporting lever having its free end provided with an 

